We preferred subtitles to English dub. Heck, I knew a guy who taught himself Japanese through watching subtitled anime. We watched all we could: Project AKO, Devil Hunter Yohko, Kiki's Delivery Service, Vampire Hunter D, Devilman.
Hmm...I'm sensing a pattern with some animes.
We even saw AKIRA, the crowning jewel of animation, at the Detroit Institute of Art. It was awesome seeing a film like that on the big screen.
Anime was so different than anything shown on American television. Sure, there was Speedracer, G-Force, and Voltron which were all kid-friendly, but Robotech was very mature for the most part and even had characters DIE which was strange to see on American television intended for kids.
Among all these great (and many times weird) stories was one that really caught my attention: Battle Angel. It's the story of Gally, a cyborg girl who is found by Ido, barely alive and functioning. He rebuilds her body and she learns to survive in a savage city filled with killer cyborgs.
There's this huge and dangerous world above and all around her and she has to learn to survive in it. Her innocence and vulnerability draws you in. She's sweet and kind, you end up LIKING her:
But there are times where you don't want to mess with her.
Gally is just a young woman trying to survive in a dangerous world. She's not a violent person, but will be when the lives of herself and loved ones are in danger. Her story has heart and brains and it's a shame that anime never continued her story.
When I heard they were making a film adaptation I was 100% against it. Hollywood doesn't have the best track record with anime. Thankfully I was proven wrong. The Robert Rodriguez-directed adaptation is a great film and really captures the spirit. Let's hope for a sequel.
Alita/Gally, Battle Angel, whatever you name her, is Morgalla's greatest inspiration. She rocks.
